On the transport and trajectories of the chernobyl debris across Canada and the arctic

A scenario is presented for the transport of the Chernobyl radioactive debris across Canada and the Arctic. It is based on the analysis of the¹⁰³Ru/¹³⁷Cs ratios in terms of the Chernobyl release pattern. The ratios which ranged from 0.2 to more than 4.0 were associated with four different phases of the Chernobyl emissions which lasted 10 days, from April 26 to May 6, 1986. Debris from the initial phase /ratios of 0.2 to 0.5/ and the last phase /ratios above 2.5/ would have entered Canada on a very broad front extending from northern Quebec to the North West Territories by way of Greenland and the Arctic; debris from the second phase /ratios of 0.5 to 2.0/ and the third phase /ratios of 2.0 to 2.5/ would have entered Canada from the west after travelling by way of northern Siberia and the Bering Sea.Paper presented at the IVth International Symposium of Radioecology of Cadarache, France, March 1988.